An Unlawful Land
by Alcaknight
Summary: Several months after Kirito manages to rescue Asuna, things have started to calm down. However, now that players can no longer die, a new set of problems begins to emerge. Will Kirito be able to become the hero once again?
1. Chapter 1

Kirito stretched his back out, pointing his arms up towards the sky.

'Feeling tired?' asked Asuna, a delicate smile forming on her lips.

'A bit. It feels like we've been walking for hours.'

Several months had passed since Kyrie rescued Asuna. They still visited Alfheim Online whenever they had the chance, despite the fact they did not have a particularly positive history regarding VRMMORPG games.

'Remind me again, why are we walking several miles to some obscure town on the outskirts of the map?'

Kirito felt a flick on his cheek as Yui stood up on his shoulder and prodded him.

'Papa, don't tell me you've forgotten already. There's been too many reports coming from that town. It's gotten to the point where we can't just ignore it. Now that players don't die anymore, more and more players have resorted to kidnapping and stealing. We've received several requests asking for help.'

'Sounds like a pain... but you're right. If these people are asking for help, we can't turn them away.'

The last few remnants of sunlight had begun to fade as the sun lazily drooped from the sky; the entire world had been enveloped by a blanket of stars, with only the faint moonlight to light the path ahead.

'This is enough for today. We'll make camp here.'

Kirito leaned against a nearby tree as he flicked through the game's menu. Under the miscellaneous items tab, he selected a tent, which suddenly deployed itself in front of them.

'I'll take watch first, get some rest.' said Kirito, as he prepared Asuna's bed.

She turned to him, and lightly kissed him on the cheek, before turning in.

Several hours passed, and after no apparent sign of any disturbances, Kiroto returned to the tent. For a moment, he was transfixed on Asuna's soft, golden hair which lay against her chest. It was always one of her best features, he thought.

He was disturbed by the clattering of hooves off in the distance. He steadied himself, and returned outside, drawing his sword. It was most likely a passing caravan, or perhaps a friendly NPC, but he wasn't ready to take the chance. Through the thick veil of darkness, Kirito could make out a red orb approaching closer and closer. It wasn't until several moments when he recognized it. It was another player; or to be more specific, a player killer. A character's orb would only turn red if they had killed an innocent player.

Three, tall men came into view, clad in dark red armor. The first one aimed his sword at Kirito. He bore a crest on the front of his shield, slightly different to the others, which led Kirito to believe he was the ring leader.

'Hide in my pocket Yui. This could get ugly.'

Yui nodded, and disappeared into the pocket of Kirito's jacket.

'Drop all of your items, or you're dead. You don't want to be sent all the way back to your hometown, do you?'

Kirito laughed, and in defiance, pointed his own sword towards the assailant.

'You must be one of those bandits I've been hearing so much about. Good, I'm glad I ran into you. I've decided to start cleaning up all the trash around here, and I've got to start somewhere.'

'W-Why you!'

The bandit charged at Kirito, who quickly stepped to the side and struck him in the chest. That one attack alone depleted his HP by almost half. In an act of desperation, the bandit charged again, aiming a strike towards Kirito's head. Kiroto drew his other sword, and parried the attack, while using his other sword to impale the bandit through the stomach. Before he had chance to react, he burst into countless shards of light.

This clearly had an impact on the morale of the other two attacks, who stepped back in fear. They were of a significantly lower level than their leader; if he wanted to, Kirito could have killed each of them in one strike. Instead, he drew his weapon, while sighing.

'Get out of here. If you ever try anything like this again, I won't let you go so easily.'

They nodded, and promptly fled in the opposite direction. Kirito returned to the tent, and poked Asuna on the cheek - a habit he appeared to have picked up. When he saw her sleeping face, he couldn't help himself.

'Is everything ok?' she asked, rubbing her eyes.

'We had a bit of unexpected company, but it's taken care of.'


	2. Chapter 2

Asuna awoke early, and crawled out of bed to see Kirito cooking several ingredients over the fire. He turned around, still idly stirring the pot.

'Oh, you're awake?'

'Why didn't you wake me? Did you keep watch all night?'

'You were sleeping so peacefully. I didn't want to disturb you.'

'T-Thanks... but I get worried about you too.'

Kirito turned back to the pot, which began to boil and bubble over the white hot campfire.

'Anyway, let's eat. We should be able to reach the town before nightfall.'

Asuna nodded, and took a seat next to Kirito. The meal was soon ready, and Kirito handed Asuna a bowl of boiling hot stew. She tentatively pressed the spoon against her lips, then wolfishly began to swallow several mouthfuls.

'It's delicious. Have you been raising your cooking skill?'

Kirito blushed slightly while looking back to the fire.

'I've been practicing a little.'

After the couple had finished their breakfast, Kirito collected the tent and placed it back in his inventory, before continuing his journey.

Several hours later, and the faint outline of a town began to emerge in the distance. They quickened their pace, feeling slightly anxious. After at least another hour, they finally reached the gate.

'That's strange. This must be the town, but I don't see any security at the gate. Usually there'd at least be one or two NPC's guarding the area.'

Kirito spoke too soon, for a small troop of heavily armed men began to approach. The leader of them bore an insincere smile as he rested his hand over the hilt of his sword.

'Welcome to our town, adventurers. Now if you'll just pay the toll, we'll let you go right on ahead.'

'Toll? I've never heard of anything like that before. This is the first town where I've ever heard of such a thing,' replied Kirito, who eyed the men up suspiciously.

'We only introduced it recently. Fifty coins, please.'

Kirito could of defeated the entire troop by himself if he had to; however, he hadn't come so far just to fight. And the money was only pocket change to him. He threw the guard a small bag of precisely fifty coins, then continued on his way.

'You know, they probably weren't even guards. It's likely that they were just a group of players that passed by and planned on taking your money,' Asuna conjectured, turning to Kirito.

'I knew that the moment I saw them. But I'd like to avoid a fight if I can. We have more important matters to attend to.'

They walked through the crowded streets. Kirito scanned the buildings, most were dilapidated or beyond repair. Rows of boarded up houses lined the streets, adding even further to the gloomy atmosphere.

'The question is... where do we start?' Asked Kirito, watching his footing on the broken, cobbled road.

'There must be a town hall of some sort. Every town has a council of players to make decisions on behalf of the people. We should start there.'

Kirito nodded, and continued through the streets with Asuna, looking for any indication of where the town hall may be. He was suddenly stopped by a loud cry, emanating from a nearby pub. Suddenly, a tall, disheveled man stumbled out of the door, clutching his chest. He was followed by a slightly shorter man, who wore an eye-patch around one eye, and firmly gripped a long sword in his hand.

'I'll teach you for spilling my drink. Let's see how funny you find it when I run my blade through you.'

The taller man desperately reached for his own weapon, but it was too late. The other man had used one of his skills to charge forward. He managed to thrust his sword straight through his chest before he even had time to react. The man curled up in pain, then exploded into a flurry of sparks.

'B-But how?' Asuna queried, turning to Kirito in a state of disbelief, 'PVP should be disabled. Unless for some reason, the leader of the town chose to disable it.'

'I don't know... but for now, let's try and find the town hall. It's dangerous out here.'


	3. Chapter 3

The couple continued to walk down the street; finding the town hall was harder than they imagined. None of the buildings particularly stood out, and they saw no signs that indicated where they might find it. After seemingly searching the entire town several times, they came to a large hall. It bore no signs, save for a collection of faded words above the door. Kirito looked closer, and with a great deal of effort, managed to make out the words 'Town Hall.'

'I think this must be it. I've never seen any town hall like this though,' said Kirito, still staring at the faded letters.

'If this is the state the building is in… I wonder what the people inside are like.'

Kirito turned to Asuna, and took her hand.

'Don't worry. It'll turn out ok. We didn't come all this way for nothing.'

She smiled faintly as Kirito turned the handle, and entered. Inside, the main lobby was dimly lit. There stood a desk at the end of the room, presumably a receptionist's desk. However, there was no-one in sight. Was it abandoned? Kirito certainly couldn't sense anyone.

'Welcome, adventurers. What brings you here?'

Kirito spun around, the voice came from the top of the stairs. There stood a tall, heavily built man in his prime. He wore a dark leather jacket and a set of ragged pants. Kirito might have mistaken him for a beggar, but the man carried himself with an air of authority; as if Kirito and Asuna were trespassers.

'Who's in charge here? We've come on business.'

'Why, that would be me.'

This was the man in charge? No wonder the town was in such a state, thought Kirito.

'Who else? Don't you have a council?'

'No. It's just me. I'm the one in charge of this town.'

'Then sit down,' Kirito demanded, challenging his authority, 'we need to talk.'

The man chucked to himself, then took a seat in the corner of the lobby, next to a large table. The surface was littered with cobwebs; Kirito couldn't have imagined that anyone would use it for eating, at least not recently. The couple took a seat on the opposite side of the table, as Asuna began to watch the man cautiously.

'I'm Kirito. This is my partner, Asuna. May I ask for your name?'

'Rauher,' replied the man, turning his attention to Asuna, 'you have a very pretty lady by the way.'

Asuna blushed slightly, however Kirito managed to keep his cool.

'Thank you. Now, could we get to business?'

'Business, what business? What could we possibly have to discuss?'

'This town,' Kirito stated.

'And what about it?'

'Haven't you stepped outside? It's a mess. On the way here I saw someone murdered outside on of the taverns. The streets are a mess; what have you been doing all this time?'

'It's fun, isn't it?'

'Fun?' Kirito asked.

'Of course. I thought it made the town a little more interesting. In most towns you can't even duel each other, where's the fun in that? A little conflict now and then can spice things up.'

'That's a joke. People don't come to towns to fight. They come to get away from all that. It might not be such a problem if you kept to yourselves, but you're hurting others too. You're warping people, most reports of bandit attacks have been directly linked back here.'

'It's just a game. People take it too seriously.'

'That might be true, but that doesn't mean it's ok to hurt others just because it's not real. Your avatar is an extension of yourself. If people keep hurting others in here, what's to say they won't change in the real world?'

Rauher chuckled to himself again, then slammed his hand on the table.

'You think you could do a better job?'

'I couldn't do any worse.'

'Very well, boy. But I'm not going to hand this town over to you so easily. I've heard your name before; you're the same Kirito who beat Sword Art Online, aren't you? And just recently you were the first person to climb the world tree. You have no objections to a duel do you?'

'If I win, you hand the town over to us. I don't want to see your face again.'

'And what if I win?'

Kirito sighed, then opened his inventory and equipped Excalibur. A bright flash of light filled the room as the sword appeared in his hands. It cast a golden glow over the dimly lit room as it hummed with energy.

'If you win, this is yours. You know what it is, right?'

'That can't be… Excalibur?'

'Kirito, no!' Asuna burst out, 'do you have any idea of what a man like Rauher could do with that sword?'

'Of course I do. Which is why I'm not going to lose.'


End file.
